Paisano Green Community is the first NetZero, fossil fuel free, LEED Platinum, affordable senior housing project in the United States. This 73 unit project is built on a 4.2 acre site, adjacent to the major border crossing between El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico. The design goals of the project were to create a place sensitive community for elderly residents that would promote healthy living and an environment encouraging the development of interpersonal relationships, all within a well designed set of energy efficient high performance buildings and grounds.

The building program includes a community building on the north end of the site adjacent to the six lane Paisano Avenue, four, three story flats buildings, along with their connective structure, the canopy wall to the west, and a linear two story building along the east edge of the site containing eighteen single room occupancies (SROs). These structures surround a large internal garden, named the Tapestry Garden, as well as a series of courtyards between the flats buildings. The Tapestry Garden, so named to symbolize the interweaving of the lives of the residents, is an oasis in the center of the project where residents can stroll, chat with neighbors and invite family over for outdoor reunions. All units are visitable, ADA compliant, or designed to be easily converted to serve the needs of elderly residents as they age in place.

An outdoor room that provides a special gathering space for the senior residents of the Paisano Green Community atop their community center terrace. The soft forms of the steel frame are highlighted with the use of overlapping sections of cool colored 3form Chroma, evoking grasses as a visual relief to the arid climate of El Paso. The alternating sections of open and colored panel sections, afford views to the dramatic mountain range to the north, while providing privacy.

2013 — National Award of Merit in Program Innovation – Project Design / National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials2012 — Citation Award for Built Architecture / American Institute of Architects (AIA) Colorado